Rig Pig?

More great questions from Mrs. Richie:



Have you been out to the oil rigs yet?  Not yet (I am actually in Frankfurt at the moment

- on my way back to Canada) The issue that I am having with going to the rigs is two fold,

the second will get answered below... but firstly, you require a full blown work permit to

travel offshore and I only just received mine - it is a 1 month process usually.



How do you get there? by helicopter?  Yes, but it is even more complicated than that.  We

have to fly from Lagos to Port Harcourt where we have an Oil Terminal called QIT.  From

QIT, you fly by helicopter to the rig. It takes 1 day, minimum, to get from Lagos to QIT

to the rig, so that is the other reason that I haven´t gone out yet... not enough time.



Have you ever been on an ocean oil rig before? No - and they are huge... I think it will be

neat for the first time.



How far from shore is it?  Are there many of them?  There are 2 differentcategoriess of rigs

- Jack ups and Floaters.  The jack ups work in less than 300´ of water while the floaters do

every thing else.  Currently we have 3 Floaters working and 4 jack ups.  I work on the jack

up rigs.  They are a couple miles offshore... give or take.



How big are they? How many people work on them?  They are huge - think of a football field on

top and several stories deep. There will be about 100 ppl between cooks and cleaners to
maintainance staff and engineers working on each rig.  More for the floaters.


Will you work on just one or travel around to many of them? I am currently responsible for 1

rig... and typically I would try to visit that rig every couple months for a week or more.

Day to day, I am working in the office in Lagos.



Well - I gotta run and catch my plane to Canada!  See you all soon!



RQ